Holocaust Conference

I’m all for the criticism of governments and “historical investigation.” Furthermore, I think putting Israeli policy under deeper scrutiny is something we don’t do enough of, but the announcement of this week’s “Holocaust Conference” in Tehran is just plain ridiculous.

By allowing the likes of David Duke into Iran for this circus, President Ahmadinejad is digging himself a hole that will be increasingly difficult to escape.

The sad reality is that besides strengthening the belief that this is a leader that doesn’t deserve to be acknowledged, let alone communicated with, the news of this sort of event further isolates Iranian civil society from the rest of the world, at just the time when the vast majority of Iranians would love desperately to engage with it.

I can tell you from experience that these propaganda aids only serve to perpetuate our under informed opinions about places like Iran. Earlier this fall while I was in Tehran I visited the site of the very crass Holocaust Cartoon Exhibit. Besides its inherent ugliness, I was struck more than anything by its lack of visitors. Thankfully, no one was there.

Do not make the same mistake many have made. Differentiate between a nation’s people and its leaders. As Americans we’ve recently learned to ask the rest of the world to extend us that courtesy. It’s time to reciprocate